For years, Paul Dickson has been fascinated by words. But unlike most people, he's done something about it: He collects them. He gathers words the way a butterfly collector snares his prey: He captures the unusual, the archaic, the eosteric and even the madeup. And every once in a while he blesses us all with the fruit of his labor, a volume of words that is more than educational, it's pure entertainment, too. Such is the new "Family Words," Dickson's gift to the great American backbone, the family. Here you will find words that only a mother (also a brother, a sister and a father) would love and recognize. "Family Words" is as enjoyable as eavesdropping on your next-door neighbor, and as informative as well. And it's not just for wordnerds either!

I greatly enjoyed this book. It is additional evidence -- if additional evidence is necessary -- about the simularity of people everywhere.

For instance, I'm pleased to find that our family's use of "huggle" -- hug plus snuggle -- is also a family word used by other families.

Dickson didn't print a phrase that my family has used for years -- "take care of your own rat killing," to tell someone to mind their own business.

There's at least a smile on every page. I recommend it for everyone with fond memories of their family life.

Every family has its own special, private words, and Paul Dickson, the tireless collector of such things, has gathered hundreds (thousands?) of the most humorous, unusual, imaginative, goofiest and ingenius family words into this book. They get the reader to start thinking of his or her own family's "code words", and Paul Dickson would undoubtedly love to add them to his collection. The book makes a great gift for word-lovers.

A keen dive into L.A. noir, before anyone else, and a likely influence to Hammett's Red Harvest and its subsequent manifestations, from Yojimbo to A Few Dollars More to film Last Man Standing. Not the same story, however. Great voice- hear the word "homeboy" used correctly in context from nearly seventy years ago. Ellroy's White Jazz is possibly the only evolutionary offspring.

Every fan of Chandler and Hammet owes it to themselves to DEMAND that their local mystery store carry this book. From the tough as nails dialog to the bleak ending, bitter as a bucket of limes, this is the penultimate hardboiled novel. Fast One makes Grafton, Cornwall, et al look like lukewarm consommé at a spinsterish tearoom. The literary equivalent to a baseball bat baptism

It's a crime that this book is currently out of print. If Paul Cain had published more novels (this was his only one, though he wrote many fine short stories), he might well be as famous as Hammett and Chandler. One reviewer, years ago, wrote that reading Fast One was like traveling to Antarctica -- once you arrived, there was no where else to go. In other words, this novel is truly the hardest, toughest, bleakest and bloodiest of the hard-boiled genre. It defines the outer edges of tough-guy fiction. Spare, terse and without redeeming social value, it is a remarkable work. I highly recommend it. Do whatever you can to find a copy, but you can't have mine

Finding One's Way With Clay is a fresh as it was over 25 years ago when it was first written. It is both an eloquent how-to book as well as a provacative and inspirational look at the relationship between clay and the human being.

After 25 years working in clay, I finally read Paulus Berensohn's "Finding One's Way with Clay". He describes many techniques for pinching pots, and ways to experiment with clay to create new expressions. The steps in making simple or complex hand modeled pieces are clearly explained, and I found them useful in teaching elementary art classes. There's also a thorough chapter on building a simple sawdust kiln.

This artist is truly unique. He is the God of the pinch pots. Highly reccommended. There are neat excersizes to use in classes that beginners to experienced ceramists can enjoy.

I just got a copy from Sporty's. I devoured it as soon as I started looking through it.I will be recomending it to my friends who fly the Bonanza. I expect I will re-read it again and again. It also will come in very handy towards making some placards for various speeds and manuvers.

This text goes directly to aircraft performance without digression. Clear and easy to read yet well documented. I have looked for a book like this for some time and am very happy to have found it. If you liked Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators (ISBN 1-56027-140-x) but thought it too long and too general you will treasure this book.

This is an ideal complement / study guide to the aircraft manufacturer's Pilot Operating Handbook.

John Ecklebar is an outstanding Bonanza instructor, and this book offers some of his insights. John is one of the American Bonanza Society's instructors for the Bonanza Pilot Proficiency Program. Highly recommended.

This book was one of the best books ever. With a storyline that was amazing, and best of all, you choose what you need to do. It brings more life to the book. It is a definit must read.

Oh, wait. I was a bug. Fwap.
This book is the greatest book in history. It is much better than the bible. And more important. Jesus thinks so, too.
I will destroy you.

This is a very good book it is great for fantasy lovers I would recomend this book to anybody who likes fantasy.

This was the last of Carell's books for me to read, so finishing it was bittersweet. Once again Herr Carell has produced a masterful historical piece laced with many eyewitness accounts that keep it interesting to read. Overall coverage is good, especially from the german point of view. This campaign was always a relatively small time sideshow to the germans due to their preoccupation with the Ost Front. Logistics eventually won the campaign for the allies, though Afrika Korps fought with great daring and elan for over 2 years, giving the Brits the fits! Small unit actions are covered as well as the more strategic picture. I recommend this book to persons wanting a thourough review of this excing and exotic campaign and devotees of Herr Carell. It is,of course, somewhat slanted to the German point of view. This should not dissuade you from enjoying this wonderful African campaign overview.

I must say that after reading several very dry battle and war Histories ('Assault on Moscow', by Werner Haupt comes to mind)this book was very appreciated. Whereas the current (ie. the last ten or fifteen years) trend is to throw in a few personal accounts of a battle by someone who was there in order to make the book a bit more interesting, Mr. Carell worked/works from these accounts much more heavily. Because of this, his story of the African campaign is much more readable than the vast majority out there. I must say though that the book is somewhat dated and perhaps also a bit jaded in some aspects. For instance he gives only slight credit to the French resistance of the American landings in Algieria in Nov.42 when in reality the French in this case were extremely loyal to their German alliance and fought as tenaciously as was humanly possible. Overall, I must say that I very much enjoyed this book.

Unlike most other books about the North African war, this book is a superb account from the German perspective. One wonders what might have been if Hitler hadn't been so stubborn, or if Malta had fallen. It gives the insider view of the famed Afrika Korps, and is a gripping tale ( just like a war thriller ) of the campaign. This is a must read for all enthusiasts of military non-fiction. One would also do well to reread The Destert Fox after reading this book - it would definately lend a new perspective to Rommel's biography.

Unfortunately the copy I have is old, and has started coming to pieces. The price of the hardcover edition is rather high. It would be good if a cheaper, softcover edition is available.

I have pretty much experience with object oriented and procedural programming in several languages, now getting into AOP and byte code engineering. The first 30 minutes with this book were dissapointing - i couldn't figure out what the heck this guy is talking about. So i started at the front, not back cover. And this is my hint - read it from the beginning, page by page. I knew, there is something wrong with software development in general, now i know what it is exactly, and why. I knew it! More - i know how i can break this vicious circle and burn the tires. We've been going the wrong way folks! This definitely is the most valuable book in my monster library (some 100 titles). This is the top secret knowledge, worth thousands and thousands of bucks. I really am not related to the author or publisher. Great stuff!

Found my first copy in the university book store in Ames, Iowa, and have been looking at it constantly, until I lost it in one of my numerous moves. Bassett has the right idea. Software should be **engineered**, not hand crafted, and Netron seems to have found at least one way to do it.

Another thing. To my knowledge, no one else in the field has advocated the notion of **balance** between source level changes and the re-use of executeable objects. This is probably the most important idea expressed here.

I thought I was becoming comfortable with OO until I ran into a group of Smalltalkers. What a mind bender! I learned things about OO that I didn't know. I also became concerned as, ostensibly for reuse purposes, the design stage decoupled logically unrelated functionality and fragmented real-world objects far beyond their natural granularity, to the point that I found myself mired in bitty components and methods with so little responsibility that I could no longer see the big picture. Worse, those myriad components now had complex interrelationships, most of which I could no longer see. I fully agreed that reuse was a worthy goal - but at the expense of readability and maintainability? Paul G. Bassett not only identifies and describes all of these issues (and much more), he has concrete solutions to these problems, with bottom line statistics to back up some pretty wild claims. His book is small - initially a concern for me. Don't worry. Paul G. Bassett is clear, concise, correct, complete. This, I strongly believe, is where we're headed.

The authors have done a superb job in presenting a classic piece of collectible reference. The book is filled to the bubble with all the greats and done with taste and care. One of the nice sections is a complete listing of toy manufacturers trademarks. No effort was made to price the robots and space toys, which I'm gratefully thankful for, since any attempt would certainly have dated the work. As a collector this will be one of my future guides as I pursue what has become a rewarding if albeit expensive pastime! Bravo...and my compliments. To all others the least bit interested...get this book!

I have to agree with the comments made by the author himself, both " ...informative & visually stimulating ...". If that was what he set out to achieve by writing this excellent book, then he has surpassed it. Superb colour pictures of the type of tin robots & space toys we all played with in our younger days brought the memories flooding back. For collectors of this type of toy, this has to be a classic. Clear photography, excellent description of each toy, rare items and original boxes and a desirability guide. A must for both new & experienced collectors alike !

Altho I'm not a Space Toy collector, this will be on my shelf just for the quality and quantity of the fantastic vintage graphic images of the toys and their boxes.

For the Space Toy afficianado, this has the best, large scale, clearest photos I've seen. Thee is brief, but concise information on each toy that includes the size, maker, year, country, desirability, & description. There are several pages of trademark logos. It's a real trip down memory lane and should serve as one of the top ranked refrence books out there.

An extremely good book. I'm not seriously into Art but I saw this book at a friend's house and I was very impressed. - Very interesting and informative

I thoroughly enjoyed this interesting and informative look at Gainsborough's work. It is ideal for students, art lovers or anyone who simply loves beautiful books. A must for every trendy coffee table. I can only congratulate the authors and say I will be looking out for their next publication.

Excellent read. A must for Gainsborough fans, and anyone who loves true art.

The books presents 200 vintage photographs and documents from Georgetown University Archives, the Library of Congress and Martin Luther King Library in D.C. The images are accompanied by detailed captions that reveal the history of the school. There are lots of interesting anecdotes about the school's founding (Georgetown's founding date was originally listed as 1788 until a typographical error in the 1850's recorded 1789), the campus (GU sold about 100 acres of land it once owned to finance the building of Healy Hall), the Civil War (three of the six conspirators in the Lincoln assasination were GU alumni), sports(Georgetown's colors of blue and gray originated with the Crew Team in the 1890's), and student life (Bill Clinton originally was not admitted to Georgetown as a freshman, and he didn't win the senior-year student council election).

Other Georgetown histories are scholarly. This one is accessible. No other resource provides the volume and variety of interesting photographs and anecdotes.

O'neill and Williams provide a snapshot view of one of the oldest elite universities in the country. The pictures, many of which have never been brought together before, visualize the growth of a school and community, while the captions share the interesting 200+ year history of "the school on the hilltop." A definite must have for any Georgetown student, parent or alumnus, alike. Some really cool pictures, a neat story and a great book. Bravo!

This is a fantastic visual depiction and narrative of Georgetown University's rich history. The photos represent some of the most interesting points of GU's past, and they're accompanied by colorful antecdotes that deepened my knowledge and appreciation for my Alma Mater.